Mourners don purple at beaten student's NY funeral

In this August 31, 2011 handout photo provided by DeNicola Photography shows Alexandra Kogut in Utica, N.Y. Police say Kogut was beaten to death in her dorm room by her boyfriend. (AP Photo/ DeNicola Photography)

NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. (AP) ó Hundreds of people filled an upstate New York church for the funeral of a New York college freshman who authorities say was beaten to death by her boyfriend.

Many wore purple Thursday in support of stopping domestic violence and purple ribbons were wrapped around trees outside the church in the central New York town of New Hartford.

The body of 18-year-old Alexandra Kogut was found early Saturday in her dorm room at the State University of New York College at Brockport, near Rochester, after her mother called campus police concerned.

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During the eulogy, the Rev. Paul Drobin said that if Kogut were there, she would tell those gathered to care for and love one another.

Twenty-one-year-old Clayton Whittemore, of New Hartford, is charged with killing Kogut. Heís pleaded not guilty.